1. Field of the Invention
The invention resides in the field of fly or insect catchers and more particularly relates to those implements having a sticky or adhesive surface to which the insect adheres.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of devices having a handle and head piece to which is attached a sheet or coating of adhesive or sticky material appear in the prior art. The purpose of these arrangements is to capture an insect, most often a fly, rather than to crush it as is the case with the common fly swatter. The advantages are, among others, that no damage is likely to occur to objects which would otherwise be struck by the striking type of swatter and that the insect is gathered up in its entirety rather than falling away or being squashed on a surface.
Examples of catcher designs with various forms of adhesive surfaces include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,802,774, Nixon, disclosing a plurality of superimposed sheets of adhesive coated paper; U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,447, Tarbell, showing an adhesive coated cup; U.S. Pat. No. 2,618,882, Martin, illustrating an adhesively coated perforated replaceable member; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,449,856, Weaver, describing a transparent adhesively covered replaceable head.
All of these inventions are used and operate in the same manner, that is, the insect comes in contact with the adhesive and is retained thereby.
The disadvantage of this method is that after use, one or more insects remain alive on the catcher and may eventually break free or in the case of flies, may buzz for a period of time. To avoid this problem, the adhesive member in prior art devices must be thrown away after each use. Storage may also present some difficulty as the exposed sticky surface must be placed so as to avoid other objects.
To extend the use of the adhesive surface and overcome the above difficulties, the invention described herein improves upon the basic prior art devices by providing first an attached hinged cover to protect the adhesive when not in use and second a quantity of insecticide disposed in the cover to hasten the demise of insects trapped on the surface.